Evernote

http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/
Another cool way to keep track of information - which could include notes, pictures, videos, etc. for a project (individual or group).

Time, time, time - I need more!

Mindomo

http://www.mindomo.com/
I just found this one in the ISLMA listserv. It looks like a great way for students (and others) to organize thoughts and, as the website says, manage tasks and priorities. One of the objections to our Big6 projects has been that students don't have the chance to authentically select what kinds of information they are looking for. If we determine both their topics and their subtopics, that's not leaving students much room for decision-making. Yes, they do get practice in looking/scanning the resources for needed information, and in organizing that information into the predetermined categories (subtopics). But they will need to get to the point where they determine for themselves what information is vital to report in a research paper or other project. Mindomo just might be a tool they could use as they gather information. It is flexible, web-based, and can be adjusted as they collect information. I'll have to play with this one a bit more, but it looks promising!

Thing 14: Wiki

Well, Alicia D., I think that (from looking at Welker's econ wiki) a wiki might offer more formatting opportunities than Google Docs. I think both equally invite collaborative content creation. I liked all the different ways that Mr. Welker set up his wiki -- he had obviously been AT it for a long time! and experimented with a variety of uses for his class. As you might recall, I thought that Weebly was somewhat limited in its layout options. It seems that wetpaint allows a lot of widgets, sharing among different sites such as FaceBook, Twitter, etc., and it INVITES viewers to participate in a way that a weebly website wouldn't. All in all, I think they are all more useful for teachers than our current Curriculum Page option, where the librarian usually sets up the page and posts it to the web. A wiki allows teachers to do their own updates regularly. And for organizing a course with student postings, chapter summaries and links to helpful resources, polling options, and so on, this wiki tool seems really helpful. I am going to set one up for our preparation for the School Board presentation. That way you, Susie, and I can all throw things into the mix and not lose ideas or actual paper in my mess of an office. -- Doreen F.

Flickr: Thing 8

My Flickr account screen name is "deweyfritz".

Having used Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, and other photo sharing websites before, I found Flickr pretty easy to use. Our previous 17-Things experiences with tagging also came in handy. I like the idea of creating folders (i.e. Collections) in which to gather groupings (i.e. Sets) of uploaded pictures - one problem with my other online photo accounts is that they tend to accumulate, and I need to browse through a bunch of folders to find the one I want.

As for the educational uses for Flickr, I am interested to look into that. I browsed the site for "library display" options, and found myself wishing that more librarians would post their pictures, because the ones I found were somewhat limited -- only one tagged with "library display winter", for example.

I found Alicia's and Melissa's and Allison's photostreams - though I have to admit it's because Alicia gave me the names. It takes so LONG to look through everybody's blogs to get those details. Sigh. (What a whiner, huh?)

RSS, etc. -- Thing 7

I didn't have to set up an account in Google Reader - when I went to that link from the 17 Things blog, it opened up my already-established account (I guess since I have a Google account, that was already included). And it showed that I already could "read" all the blogs of the colleagues I'm following for this 17 Things project.

I added three others:

• Blue Skunk Blog (Doug Johnson, of the Mankato (MN) public schools)
• Ed. Week
• Book Blogs - a place where book lovers share reviews, recommendations, etc. Bliss!

So -- I think this would be a good way to keep up with some people's progress, work, thoughts, etc. -- but as I keep gathering more and more of these "things", I do wonder when I'll have time to keep up. Theoretically this will all make "keeping up" easier and more efficient - and I believe it will -- but since I've done very little in the way of keeping up with other people's work and ideas in the past and still felt very busy, how will I add this to my plate?

I've heard other librarians say that they devote one period per day to their own professional development. Could I do that? Shut the door and just read stuff?

Thing 4: Google Docs / Calendar

We have already experimented with using Google Calendar in the library - for our shared calendars (trying to keep track of where everyone is supposed to be every day and every period is sometimes a challenge!). Unfortunately, we can't seem to get Noelle or Karen to the point where they can view the calendar, so Alicia and I have to update it and then print it out -- somewhat defeating the purpose.

The Tech Committee had toyed with the idea of using Gmail to replace our school's email - leading to shared documents and other "cloud computing" applications. BUT - - - this would lead to other restrictions, such as a diminished address book (dependent on users to maintain the link to the whole school, etc.), possible leakage to non-RB people for in-house announcements, etc.. We concluded that further study is warranted . . .

But Google Docs has definite possibilities in terms of shared editing of documents -- whether it be for tech planning, lesson planning, display ideas, committee activities, or whatever. I love the idea of not keeping track of which version I'm looking at, of not remembering what pile on my desk I put that thing I needed to do, etc. etc. It will be both fun and interesting to explore the use of this new tool in my professional life.

Dee-Lish-Us way to save and share info

So - my Delicious username is fritzdoreen Add me to your network!
I added a few sites that I visit a lot - some of the gurus of educational technology and information literacy. Also some organizations useful for school librarians and educational technologists.

And just for grins, I added the Internet Public Library, which I hardly ever use any more. Maybe I'll find that information is more readily available via a simple Google search. But not that many years ago, this was a wonderful resource for reference assistance using tools not available in all libraries. Hmmm. Maybe another result of the exponential growth of credible (and not-so) information available on the Web.

I'd be interested in hearing how the information available on the Internet has changed other teacher's professional lives -- how do you find good, realiable, up-to-date information, new lesson ideas, resources, and other tools for teaching (and learning)?

Does the library have a role in helping you to find and organize this type of information? For example, did you know about the page on our website which lists curricular resources? Do you ever use it? Should it be updated? Should it be available, but in a different format (like Delicious)? Your thoughts and input, please . . .

Educators' and librarians' role

This video includes some provocative statements about how we educators are obligated to become citizens of the online information community in order to prepare our students for the society needs of their future.

When information is over-abundant, what need is there for a library or librarians? When people can organize their own information using tools like Delicious, RSS feeds, and so on, how can we support people's efforts to find, organize, and use information?